National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
CLEVELAND PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT
WASHINGTON D.C.
Section number 7 Page _J __
today as Tregaron. After the death of Hubbard and his wife, the property was
divided into two parcels both of which remain today. Twin Oaks has remained
virtually intact except for a few alterations. The land has not been built
upon so that the effect of a large summer estate remains, in the midst of the
later suburban development.
Tregaron: 3029 Klingle Rd. N.W.; 1912; Charles Adams Platt, architect
Neo-Georgian Style;
A D.C. Landmark.
This 20 acre portion of Gardiner Greene Hubbard' s estate was sold in 1911
by Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, (Mabel Hubbard) to James Parmelee, an Ohio
financeer. The mansion, gardener's cottage and carriage house, as well as the
over all layout were designed by Charles Adams Platt who was the foremost
country house architect in the U.S. at that time. His brick Neo-Georgian
mansion stands on the crest of a hill surrounded by sloping meadows and
landscaped naturalistic woodland areas including bridle paths and rustic stone
bridges. In designing the house, Platt was taking as a model English Georgian
houses of the 18th century rather than the American ones of the same period.
In 1940 the estate was sold to Mrs. Merriweather Post and her husband
Joseph Davies. They made some alterations but maintained the integrity of the
house and the grounds. The "Russian Style" Dacha was added at this time and
was sited in a way which provided a view of the rising National Cathedral but
which interrupted the symmetry of the formal garden off of the kitchen wing.
In 1980 the property was purchased by two parties who have divided it
into two parcels. The Washington International School owns 6 acres at the
crest of the hill which contains all of the buildings. The Tregaron
Development Corporation owns the remaining 14 acres which wrap around the
school's property and contains most of the steep hills.
The buildings have all been subjected to internal alterations to
accomodate the school, but the exteriors maintain their original integrity.
The elaborate landscaping scheme is still in place although there has been
some deterioration due to lack of maintainance of the grounds.
These three designated landmark estates represent the history of the
neighborhood before the intensive suburban development at the turn of the
century. They exhibit the large amount of land that used to surround these
country estates and summer homes, which were on the outskirts of the city.
Their styles of architecture are representative of the times in which they
were designed. Rosedale is typical of a 17th-century vernacular farmhouse, in
contrast to the the more formal 18th-century Georgian country houses
represented nearby in Woodley House (Maret School) and the Highlands (Sidwell
Friends School), which were built just a few years later. Twin Oaks is unique
in that it was designed to be a summer home for the Hubbards who had their
permanent home at Dupont Circle. Stylistically it is nationally significant
as an early example of the more creative phase of the Colonial (Georgian)
Revival Style. Tregaron represents the Beaux Arts concern for the overall
design and layout of an entire estate as well as the turning toward earlier